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The process of home improvement continues...what comes next?

Over the past month we have moved from one part of our lives and into another part.  Nearly everything is where it should be, the work on the house is scheduled and Sue is starting to concentrate on getting her business back up and running.  Our lives are getting back to "Normal" or what ever constitutes that right now.   We are falling into a routine.

I like my job with NYL and the fact that they were willing to let me keep it, even though I moved over 1000 miles away from my home office.   Our new house was slowly coming together and growing on me, although I still had some reservations. For example, while the local volunteer fire department was only about five miles away, the nearest hospital was further than that and had a reputation for barely being able to deliver puppies much less any serious issues that either of us my have.   Going to the store was going to be less and less a weekly or biweekly trip like it was before and more of a monthly one time option simply because of the miles and time involved.

Susan and I had gone out to dinner as a couple finally and had to drive an hour for Mexican food that was "satisfactory" at best.   The waiter seemed happy that he was actually able to talk his native language to me even though my very limited Spanish was God awful at best.   However they did have Horchata, but it was something they didn't have on the menu since no one ever asked for it.  He was happy to make us a glass or two.

Since we just moved, and having two large repair bills over our head, we were not ready to start any major projects.  The question was however...what comes next?

Painting most likely, as our bedroom has light pink walls and a deeper shade of pink carpet.  Another room has, to quote the lovely Sue, "Baby shit" brown walls and a horrid blue carpet.   We believe that the floors are actually covered in the same honey brown pine that most of the floors of the house maintain.    All photo's were taken directly from Zillow.com


Here is the living room with a good shot of the floors that we love with the exposed brick of the fireplace.  That chair and "wall" behind it will have to go.

 We knew there would be projects and Sue and I had talked about wanting to learn and take on more of the day to day "grunt" work.  I still hoped to take some time and be able to make or build some elevated garden beds for use in the spring and we joked about getting some chickens.   Our next door neighbor had his horses and a goat named Nanny that often wandered over to eat our grass and the idea of chickens sort of amused us both.

So painting we could do.  Even a little bit of plastering.  However some things, such as the roof and fireplace were simply beyond our ability...we wondered about the bathroom. It is...well.  Yea, it's bad.


Yes, that is blue carpet on the floor.  We figured that the old man that lived here us, and who built the place, got to a point in his life where he didn't want to accidentally slip and fall on the floor.   So, the blue rug went down.    If the wood isn't there, then we are going to tile it, put a double vanity in and redo the shower completely.   This is not a job that we can do ourselves so, that's on the wait list.

We actually have mixed emotions about the kitchen.  The design of it isn't bad although moving the fridge would make the work area more efficient.   The other appliances are just really dated.  The cabinets however are beautiful.  They were hand made, probably done by the Amish, and are deep and wide.  While the amount of storage in them is surprising, their is still not enough room for all of Susan's various cooking supplies and "toys."


 Why they covered a beautiful golden pine floor with cheap linoleum I'll never understand, unless they were trying to separate the kitchen area from the attached dining room.  Again this may be something we wish to tile eventually, and we would like to remove that island and replace it with something more functional.  

All this of course, takes time and money.  Luckily I have one of the two.




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